Please help!!!

I've never really owned a digital camera and have even less knowledge of them. I recently began searching for a digital point-and-shoot camera (8 MP or above) to bring with me to college. My price range is below $200 (preferably on amazon.com because i have credit). I want a camera that takes great, good quality pictures (1st priority), good quality and good fps videos (2nd priority), and nice optical zoom (3rd priority). The camera is going to be used mainly for still pictures and feature-film-like videos (mostly longer than 10 mins) that will be posted on the internet.

Flash reload speed, shutter speed, etc. are not of much concern although i would like for them to be the best that they can be for the camera priorities that I want (see: above). Here are of the few features i could use: Image stabilization (really want), red-eye removal (i only want if the camera has serious red-eye problems). If there are any other suggestions for features, camera effects, etc, that you think i could use or would like...please don't hesitate to say so.

The cameras that I have been looking at so far include the Canon Powershot a720, the Panasonic DMC-LS80K and the Canon SD1100. If you could find an SLR for under $200 (if one exists) with the things I need, that would be great, too. Early thanks for your help!

I posted this about a month ago but was wondering if there are any new cameras.

The Canon PowerShot A720 IS would be a good choice. You're looking for an awful lot of camera for a very small amount of money. That being the case, I would recommend concentrating on image quality and letting the rest go. No compact camera has a really fast frame rate, anyway. You have to go to a digital SLR for that.

Like I said, the Canon A720 IS would be good. Canon is pretty much top of the heap when it comes to image quality. And that camera has optical image stabilization and manual exposure controls. We actually shot a bunch of tradeshow coverage video with a Canon A-Series compact a couple of years ago, too. It worked surprisingly well. Sony would be my second choice if image quality is the top priority.

I agree with John - the A720 is a great little camera. The IQ is probably about the best you will get for the price.

I would suggest that if this is your choice that you pick it up very soon as the only place that seems to have it in stock for $199 is Amazon. I think it's been discontinued - and it seems people are still looking for it.

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-PowerSho...7362562&sr=1-1

Liz